# Chanukah or Hanukkah? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752 "2004-12-08T15:50:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/1 "2004-12-08T15:50:00Z")
Which is correct? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/2 "2004-12-08T15:54:36Z")
Both. The first letter of the Hebrew word is the letter _ches_ which makes a sound like the ch in the German word _ach_. (If you know IPA, it /x/). Since there is no corresponding sound in the English language, the transliteration can be done either way. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/3 "2004-12-08T15:58:30Z")
Is one proper, and one informal? ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/4 "2004-12-08T16:02:24Z")
Nope. Feel free to use either or some other variant. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/5 "2004-12-08T16:05:56Z")
Todah Rabah. Chag Same’ach. ;j ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/6 "2004-12-08T16:23:45Z")
As Zev stated both are correct. The CH is the anglicized spelling of the hebrew word (i.e. not using the hebrew alphabet but rather the alngo alphabet). The H is the anglicized pronounciation. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/7 "2004-12-08T16:30:44Z")
Don’t forget Hanukah, Hannukah, Hannukkah, Channukah, Chanukkah, and Channukkah. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/8 "2004-12-08T16:42:46Z")
You forgot Hhannukkahh and Chchannukkahh. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/9 "2004-12-08T17:06:49Z")
Not to mention Chachacha, and KHAAAAAAAAAAN-ukah. ;j Happy chak- happy chag - happy holidays, everyone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/10 "2004-12-08T17:29:01Z")
(Not going to mention Quabalah. or Cabala or Kabbalah or…) ;j ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/11 "2004-12-09T03:12:42Z")
I think I did a search of Historical Newspapers from 1920-1990 or so, one time. Don’t know if I posted the results here or somewhere else. (or even if I did). I’ll search for it. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/12 "2004-12-09T03:59:18Z")
o/` So drink your gin-and-tonic-ah, and smoke your marijuana-kah, if you really, really wanna-kah, have a happy, happy, happy, happy Hanukkah! o/` ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chanukah-or-hanukkah/278752/13 "2004-12-09T04:47:41Z")
The eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is what’s in question. According to the [Library of Congress Hebrew and Yiddish romanization](http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/hebrew.pdf) (.pdf), it should be transliterated as an H with a dot under it. Since we don’t necessarily have the Unicode characters available for underdotted letters, I usually show it here as H. Therefore: Hanukkah. The Ch- spelling is based on German. Are you really sure you want to imitate the Germans? After what happened? Spell Hanukkah with H for het. It’s the American way. If you disagree, you don’t have to get all het up about it.